Robert G. Howie

Since 1973, Robert "Skip" Howie has been engaged in an active trial practice. More than three decades of trial experience stands behind every case handled by Howie & Smith ("H&S"). Since beginning his practice, Mr. Howie has tried more than two hundred fifty criminal and civil cases to jury verdict.

He has experience in handling significant trials involving issues which have included Sports and Recreation Liability, and Entertainment Facility Liability, Products Liability, Personal Injury/Automobile Litigation, Construction Defect, Contract Dispute and Environmental Claims.

Mr. Howie is a 1967 graduate of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1967 to 1970, and retired from the Reserve in 1996. Mr. Howie served as an editor of the Law Review at Golden Gate University. He began his practice from 1973 to 1979 as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County, California.

For 25 years, Mr. Howie's trial practice has been dedicated to the service of civil litigation clients. He has been a trial attorney as a member of Foley, McIntosh & Foley, Albany, California (1981-1984); Owen, Melbye & Rohlff, Redwood City, California (1984-1990); and Rohlff, Howie & Frischholz, San Jose, California (1990-1996). Mr. Howie is the senior and founding partner of Howie & Smith and he is committed to providing the highest quality of representation. His dedication to his clients has resulted in a client list that has developed over the years to include numerous Fortune 500 and Best rated companies, as well as prominent individuals and professionals.

Mr. Howie is admitted to the State Bars of California (1973) and Washington, D.C. (1981), the Federal District Courts for Northern and Central California (1981), the Ninth Federal Circuit (1982) and the United States Supreme Court (1984).

Audrey Smith

Audrey is a San Francisco native and a graduate of Brown University. She attended Santa Clara University Law School where she was an editor on the Santa Clara Law Review Board and published a comment in the Law Review on the subject of employment issues.

Audrey has concentrated in the areas of product liability, public entity defense, construction, and the defense of personal injury cases, with a sub-specialty in traumatic brain injury cases, and is experienced in evaluating and litigating cases through trial, as well as pre-trial advocacy and settlement negotiation, law and motion, and appellate practice.

Audrey is a member of the American and California Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in all California state courts, and the United States District Court for the Northern and Central Districts of California.